You may not even know that the humble thesaurus comes under attack, but it does. The topic arose this week when a writer tweeted a question asking other writers how they feel about using a thesaurus. Almost everyone who responded said they were down with them and why. But someone reminded me who it was who’d stirred up some trouble…
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The single resource I’ve used the most in my writing classes might be Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction. The site is jam-packed with short nonfiction pieces and craft essays that are quick to read as well as fun, moving, and instructional. Editor-in-chief Dinty W. Moore is someone you might want to follow on social (he’s a great source…
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Some writers are never at a loss over coming up with writing ideas, and some find themselves frequently stuck in the unpleasantness that comes from a blank page and no idea what to write about. This is why so many of my students ask me for writing prompts. If you find yourself stuck, with no writing prompt in sight, I…
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I’m a slow reader. I sometimes pluck a book from the shelf based not on whether its subject matter appeals to me, but whether or not it’s skinny or fat. So when I recently read Julia Otsaka’s 144-page When the Emperor Was Divine, I got the pleasure of not only finishing a book in a weekend, but also got a mini-course…
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You’ve dumped the clay on the table. You’ve sculpted it into a story, an essay, a memoir. You’ve reconsidered it and reworked it. You’re happy with it! Now it’s time to revise. We’ve all got to get through the next step, and I’ve collected some advice from writers who know a thing or two about revision. “When your story is…
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